


Red Lilies

by JasmineRosalie



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, F/M, First Meetings, Fluff, silliness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-07
Updated: 2014-11-07
Packaged: 2018-02-24 11:15:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2579570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JasmineRosalie/pseuds/JasmineRosalie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a film, it would have gone like this:</p><p> </p><p>  <i>The sunlight shone on her red hair, catching his attention even before she walked in. The chime of the door did nothing but enhance the magic of the moment, and James found himself captivated by her every move. Birds sang in the trees and the stars aligned and they fell instantly in love.</i></p><p> </p><p>Not quite.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Red Lilies

**Author's Note:**

> For an anon on tumblr, who wanted a Jily Flowershop AU with lots of silliness about Lily's name. Enjoy!

In a film, it would have gone like this:  
  
_The sunlight shone on her red hair, catching his attention even before she walked in. The chime of the door did nothing but enhance the magic of the moment, and James found himself captivated by her every move. Birds sang in the trees and the stars aligned and they fell instantly in love._  
  
Not quite. It was actually raining. Pouring, really. The sort where it seemed as if the Gods in the sky had simply overturned a bucket and laughed when the poor people on the ground got soaked through. He’d had to bring in all of the flowers that had been nicely arranged outside (as the day was supposed to be _sunny_ ) lest they get completely drowned. Not that a quick charm wouldn’t have brought them back to all of their glory, but that was a lot of flowers to fix, and James didn’t feel much like working overtime to make sure it was done correctly. Peter was on shift next, and the poor sod would more likely transfigure the flowers than revive them.  
  
Plus, explaining the fix to any curious muggles was more than he felt like dealing with this evening.  
  
So, wand stored (hidden) neatly in the pocket of his apron, James Potter lounged against the back counter and wondered if there was anyone at all who would come to a flower shop in weather like this, and whether he should be concerned for their state of mind. He certainly wouldn’t, if he didn’t work here for his mum.  
  
~  
  
It was pouring, the tea shop was closed, and Lily was _freezing_.  
  
All her hair was tucked under a woolen cap that had been the only bloody thing in her bag when the skies had suddenly opened and pissed all over her, and it was doing so pathetically at keeping her dry that she finally just took it off, wrung it out and stuffed it in her coat pocket with a palpable air of disgust.  
  
A water-repelling charm was out of the question, due to the muggles about, so she was left with one option: seek shelter.  
  
The first place she spotted was a flower shop, just across the way. Though there was nothing out front, the sign definitely said OPEN. That was a stroke of luck. She made her way across the street and hurried inside.  
  
~  
  
_Prrriiinng!_ The door chimed, bringing James from his half-attentive state back to planet Earth. “Hello!” he greeted, sliding off the counter and making his way towards the sodden customer. “How are you today?” it was his standard greeting, completely instinctual.  
  
The young woman before him stared as if he were insane to ask such a thing. “Well, I’m soaked completely, obviously.” She gestured at the world outside. “Can you believe that? We were supposed to have clear skies all day.”  
  
“Disgusting, I know.” James agreed. “Still, what are you shopping for? I suppose it’s never a bad time for flowers. Might help you ignore the weather.” The young woman (the very _pretty_ young woman) paused, then seemed uncomfortable. “Well… I, um… I’m not…” She looked outside, and then back at him, then at the flowers. “My _God!_ You have Stargazer Lilies?” Seemingly forgetting all about his question, she walked several feet to study the flowers, beaming.  
  
“Er… what? Oh. Yeah!” James said, quite caught off guard by this sudden shift. “You like lilies? Or just those?”  
  
She seemed to find this quite funny. “I like all Lilies. Especially the red ones.”  
  
“Oh, well we actually have some red stargazers, right over here.” James still didn’t get the joke, but he could at least do his job until things made more sense. Merlin, was she pretty. Her cheeks and nose were pink, and her hair was plastered to her skin, but all of this combined with the twinkle in her eye and the half-quirk of her smile as she followed him made all of his hair stand on end in the most pleasant of ways. Not that it wouldn’t without her help, he mused. His hair was a nightmare.  
  
“Oh, this one is lovely…” the girl sighed, stroking the soft petals of the flower. “How much?”  
  
“Five knu –er… dollars.” James managed, switching from wizard currency to muggle at the last moment. “Five dollars.”  
  
“Perfect. I’ll take it.” Her snap decision made James smile in a way that was both pleased and confused.  
  
“Right… er… would you like me to wrap it? For the rain?”  
  
“Yes, please.”  
  
~  
  
_Well that’s shot to hell,_ she thought, remembering that she hadn’t actually come in the shop to buy anything, but to hide from the rain, and now she was down the five dollars she’d been planning for tea and a very attractive boy with very messy hair was wrapping up her flower that she now needed to transport back into the rain. Glorious.  
  
Still, he’d seemed so happy to have a customer and she hadn’t wanted to disappoint him, so perhaps it wasn’t all bad. And she did have a stargazer lily now, which was a rare find this time of year. Even people who had greenhouses seemed to prefer the more common lilies, if they had any at all. (If they were wizards, they often passed on flowers altogether and tended potion ingredients instead). And though Lily had no way of knowing if the boy in front of her was wizard or muggle, she appreciated the care he took in wrapping her new treasure.  
  
“What’s your favorite flower….?” Her question drew out at the end, fishing for a name. The tousled florist glanced at her above the rims of his glasses.  
  
“James. And I’d say Evening Primrose. Maybe Hibiscus as a second.” He seemed completely unabashed to have a favorite flower, something that Lily took to immediately. “And lilies are your favorite?”  
  
“Yes, actually.” She giggled. Everyone had always seemed to expect her to hate them, and she’d decided early on that she was having none of that. She _liked_ lilies, and she _liked_ her name, and it didn’t matter at all if it was cliché or silly. She’d fill her entire house with calla lilies and stargazers if she could. “And do you own this shop?”  
  
“Nah, it’s my mum’s. I do like it, though. Flowers and all. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but I enjoy the customers. Plus I split shifts with my three best mates, and they're more like family than anything else. The shop smells amazing, too.” He shrugged, for the first time showing some shred of uncertainty. Lily laughed, liking the way one corner of his mouth turned down while the other turned up, as if his face couldn’t decide what emotion it wanted to display so it just went with both at once.  
  
James paused in his wrapping and studied her with a strange expression.  
  
“What?”  
  
“I like your laugh.”  
  
A beat. “Well I like your smile.” She didn’t know why that was such an immediate response, but she couldn’t exactly take it back, so she forced a casual air. She was relieved (and somewhat charmed) when James blushed to the roots.  
  
“I like your hair.” He countered, both corners of his mouth turned up now.  
  
It was her turn to blush. Lily hadn’t seen a mirror since this morning, but she knew from past experience that her hair was _not_ nice at the moment. But James didn’t seem the type to be deliberately malicious, so she leaned one arm on the counter and narrowed her eyes playfully.  
  
“Your glasses.”  
  
“Your freckles.”  
  
“Your jawline.” That stumped him for a moment, before he responded with:  
  
“Your eyes. Never seen anything like them.” And while a smirk played across his lips, James’s eyes were wide and completely honest.  
  
Lily’s breath caught in her throat. “They’re… my dad’s. I got them from him.” _He’ll laugh my ear off when I tell him about this,_ she added silently. _“Flirting with a boy at the shop, Lily Pad? You know you can’t elope with him, don’t care how handsome he is.”_  
  
Well, dad, he is quite handsome, she thought. “I like your dimple.”  
  
James looked confused. “What dimple?”  
  
She stared. _What dimple? Have you seen a mirror?_ “You must have noticed it! Right…” she leaned across the small counter and touched the corner of James’s lip, right where the dimple in question stood out in all of its confused glory.  
  
Their eyes met.  
  
Breath catching for the second time, Lily suddenly found herself captivated by the brilliant hazel before her. And he seemed just as fascinated. They stood exactly there for several seconds, studying each other silently. It wasn’t until she felt the skin beneath her fingers lift to a smile that Lily realized that they were strangers in a flower shop, and she had no _business_ touching him like that. She pulled away.  
  
“There.” She added unnecessarily, pointing back up at his cheek. He hadn’t pulled away. That was something.  
  
James studied the half-wrapped flower before him with great intensity. “I hadn’t noticed it. Thanks for… er… telling me.” He looked up at her over his rims again, blush very evident on his cheeks and ears.  
  
It was bloody adorable.  
  
“No problem.”  
  
~  
  
She was blushing, and by Merlin's droopy earlobes it had to be the sweetest thing he’d ever seen. To make matters worse (or perhaps better?), the red on her cheeks only brought out the green in her eyes more than before. It was like the universe was casting an illuminating charm right there to make sure he saw them, as if he could notice anything else.  
  
They were huge. Huge and very pretty.  
  
Crap. He was supposed to be working. “Er… right. Um. So the lily, d’you want a card with it, or is it for you? Figure since I’m wrapping, might as well ask…”  
  
She seemed to have forgotten the flower entirely. It made him feel better, at least he wasn’t the only one who’d been completely disarmed by that display moments ago. “Oh, er… me. It’s for my room.”  
  
“Right.”  
  
And he got back to work.  
  
~  
  
Too soon, the flower was wrapped and Lily’s excuse to chat and hide from the weather used up. “I’ll…. I’ll see you later, then?” she said. His eyes shot to hers and he looked hopeful, like the stupidest and sweetest puppy she’d seen in her life, and her insides warmed pleasantly.  
  
“Yeah. I’d love to. Just…” he trailed off.  
  
“Yes?”  
  
“Your name. I don’t know it.”  
  
“Oh.” She flushed, suddenly hesitant. “It’s… Lily. Like the flower.” _Very smooth, Evans._  
  
James’s response was the most brilliant smile she’d ever seen. “It’s nice to meet you… Lily Flower.”  
  
“You too… James.”  
  
She walked home in the rain holding a flower she hadn’t planned to get, not feeling cold at all. Later, her father would comment on the lily and the smile she still hadn’t gotten rid of, and laugh when she told him the story. But what she wouldn’t tell him about, not yet, was the tiny slip of paper she’d found hidden in the folds of plastic, on which she found several ink spots and a neatly written message.  
  
_Dinner? Saturday 6:00?_  
  
Nor would she tell him, not yet, about the calla lily from her own garden that she would pass on to a kindly woman at the shop the next morning, or the small note attached.  
  
_Yes._

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos, Comments, I love them all! <3 What did you think?


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